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He frowned, no longer interested in finishing the sandwich. He glanced at his watch and saw he was almost out of time. What kind of company only gave half hour lunches? Jesus. He felt like a high schooler.
After refilling his coffee, he went back upstairs. It was good to have a place to start, but she really didn't fit the profile. Normally he would trust his gut instincts, but he knew his judgment was cloudy where Tessa was concerned.
He tried to look at it objectively. Aside from Marty, she seemed to like her job. If it wasn't her being a disgruntled employee then maybe she was being motivated by money. Stranger things had definitely happened. Maybe the background check would yield some sort of results.
By the time he slid into his car that afternoon, he was almost fuming. He'd been put on beaker washing duty in the lab, which was actually much better than being on stapling duty. Marty had been kind enough to give him a little b
reak from the washing in order to go downstairs and pick up his dry cleaning from the delivery man. Oh, and he'd been able to fetch coffee too!
The only thing that stopped him from knocking the kid's teeth in was the fact that this was a fake job, anyway. No sense in getting arrested for punching a guy he'd never have to see again after this shit was over.
On impulse, he pulled into the gym on the way home. He'd hit the speed bag. Maybe then he'd be calm enough to do the rest of what he had to do tonight. He wasn't looking forward to running the check on Tessa.
Forty minutes later, he had moved from the speed bag to the heavy bag when he heard a voice say, “Rough day, Rick?”
He blinked as the object of his thoughts appeared off to his side. A smile pulled across his lips of its own volition. “Tessa,” he said in greeting. “I didn't realize you went here. And ... yeah, today was rough.”
“I'll let you get back to beating the hell out of that thing, then,” she said, holding up her hands and stepping back.
He stopped, lifting his shirt up to wipe the sweat off his face. A wry grin on his face, he said, “Nah. I've been at this for a while now. I think I'm actually done for the night.”
“I saw you got moved up to dishwasher from secretary,” she said, tongue in cheek.
“And errand boy. I was even able to fetch his dry cleaning this afternoon,” Rick said with mock excitement.
“What a dick,” she stated, bluntly.
With a nod of agreement, he said, “I just keep reminding myself how good it will look on my resume.”
“Duties Performed: dish washing, stapling, photocopying.”
“I prefer to think of it as excelling in a task oriented environment and practicing my team building skills,” he said, grinning.
“Smooth,” she said, nodding her head in approval. “Let me know if you need a reference. I'll be happy to vouch for you. The beakers are so clean I can practically see myself in them.”
Despite himself, he laughed. “I'll keep that in mind if this whole forensics thing doesn't pan out and I need a job as a dishwasher at Mr. Taco.”
“A fall back is always a good idea,” she said, laughing. Her face was more serious when she added, “Don't take it too personally, Rick. He's a giant asshole to everybody.”
He snorted and said, “I picked up on that. How can you stand to work for him? Me, I'm just temporary.”
Completely straight faced, she confessed, “Red wine.”
After a surprised laugh, he said, “Nice.”
“Not really,” she said. “I've been known to have a glass with dinner, but alcohol isn't really my thing. I just try to ignore him. Please don't mention this, but I don't think I'm going to be with the company all that much longer.”
“I won't,” he promised. “Congratulations. I mean, I assume this is a good thing, right?”
She nodded and said, “I can't really talk about it, yet. I don't want to jinx anything.”
“Understood. I'm glad. I'll miss you though,” he said. “You're the only person that talks to me, really.”
“Scientists are known for being a little squirrely and you're a giant. You intimidate them,” she said, grinning. “Since I'm part giant too, I thought it important we stick together.”
He raised an eyebrow and asked, “Giant?”
“You've gotta duck when you go through standard door frames, don't you?” she asked, answering his question with one of her own.
